


because i love a burning thing (i made my heart a field of fire)

by sapphfics



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: ...yeah idk either, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Canon Related, Canon-Typical Violence, Drabble, Dreams, F/F, Getting Back Together, Magic, Witchcraft, anger is energy, raelle is a mess and scylla is also a mess but they Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24145546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: The first time, Raelle punches Scylla in the jaw.It’s unfair, she knows, seeing as Scylla is chained up in some horrible war basement and not standing in front of her, arms outstretched. But she has to.“I knew it,” Scylla spits out one of her teeth and smirks. “You missed me, huh?”Or: In which even the witch’s military maximum security detention centres won’t stop Scylla and Raelle from communicating, even if it’s only through their dreams.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 31
Kudos: 226
Collections: Gays in Fort Salem





	1. when evening falls, my heart catches fire in solitude

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from [this poem](https://madelinezappala.tumblr.com/post/134990473757/the-art-of-loss-is-a-lost-art), chapter title from [this poem](https://soracities.tumblr.com/post/615647985352753152/metaphorformetaphor-when-evening-falls-my-heart)

The first time, Raelle punches Scylla in the jaw.

It’s unfair, she knows, seeing as Scylla is chained up in some horrible war basement and not actually standing in front of her, arms outstretched. But she has to.

“I knew it,” Scylla spits out one of her teeth and smirks. “You missed me, huh?”

“Goddammit! I think about you enough, I don’t need you in my nightmares too! You lied to me.” Raelle hisses, then suddenly kisses her hard on the mouth, tastes the cooper in Scylla’s blood. Strange, she always thought Spree blood would taste of fire and gasoline. “Everything about you is a lie. One of your fellow Spree wore your body as a costume and I killed her. Or is this even your real body?” 

“Even I’m not macabre enough to make you fuck a corpse,” Scylla sighs. “But yes, the body you know me in has always been mine. And I am a Necromancer, and my parents were murdered for the crime of not wanting to die in a mortal war. Just like your mom.” 

“Don’t you dare bring my mom into this!” Raelle says. “What am I saying? This isn’t real. It’s just my crazy fucked up dream.”

“Spree can communicate in dreams. And tattoos. We invented it. The witch malatia thought it was frivolous, so they have trained you to forget it. But Sarah Alder knows. She knows a lot of things. So I am here, Raelle. I’m here. This conversation is as real as the magic in the air. But they’re coming back, so you need to wake up now, okay? Remember what I said to you at the wedding. I meant it.”

Raelle wakes up covered in sweat, Scylla’s last words echoing in her mind like a siren’s song. 

She doesn’t tell her unit. 

-:-

The second time, Raelle decides to ask her questions she couldn’t in that cell. 

This has to be Scylla’s dreamscape, she decides, because Raelle finds herself wearing leather and jewellery she definitely didn’t wear to sleep. Scylla is sitting cross legged on the void-like floor, almost childlike, almost innocent, almost pitiful. 

“How much are they hurting you?”

Scylla’s eyes are suddenly downcast. “Knowing I’ve broken your heart hurt me more than anything these military fucks could do to me.” Scylla draws her knees to her chest, turns away as if ashamed. Raelle’s always been told that Spree don’t feel shame or remorse or guilt, only hatred, but perhaps she is wrong. 

Despite herself, Raelle sits beside her, puts an arm around her shoulders. “I am not broken. I’ve survived far worse than you, trust me. How much are they hurting you?”

“Mostly with seeds. Special ones, designed to hurt. They want information out of me.”

“And if they don’t get it? What then?”

“I don’t know. They’ll cut out my tongue. Execute me publicly, probably on the front steps of Fort Salem. As a reminder that anyone can be Spree.” Scylla shrugs. “I always expected to end up like this, I guess. Just hate dragging you into this.” 

“I’m gonna find you,” Raelle tells her. “If they kill you, I’ll bring you back so I can do it myself.”

Scylla has a small smile on her face. Kisses her once, moves Raelle’s hair from her face. “I love you.”

“See you soon.” Raelle whispers a promise, and then she wakes up.


	2. if i’m a sorcerer, my love’s a fire (i turn into smoke)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raelle looks into Scylla’s sleep deprived black eyes, at her jaw still bruised and her clothes practically falling off her and starts crying. And Scylla seems to understand and doesn’t say anything, just holds her like she’s the most precious thing in the world, like they are somewhere safe and warm and free. 
> 
> “I don’t know how to find you,” Raelle admits. She wipes her eyes on her shirt. “And even if I did...how the fuck do I get you out?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **spoilers for the finale! though this isn’t canon with that finale, i borrowed several of the elements from the finale in it**
> 
> chapter title from [this poem](https://soracities.tumblr.com/post/188364339205/adonis-transformations-of-the-lover-the-pages)

The third time, Raelle cries. 

Raelle doesn’t cry often and especially not in front of others. She hates the pity, and feels crying is childish. The last time she cried was at her mother’s funeral, when the realisation hit her that there would be no body to bury, that she wouldn’t be able to hug her one last time, that the morning she had deployed Raelle, half asleep, had whispered to her “I love you Mom” and that’s the last thing she’d said to her, and she wasn’t even sure if her mother had heard it. 

But Raelle looks into Scylla’s sleep deprived black eyes, at her jaw still bruised and her clothes practically falling off her and starts crying. And Scylla seems to understand and doesn’t say anything, just holds her like she’s the most precious thing in the world, like they are somewhere safe and warm and free. 

“I don’t know how to find you,” Raelle admits. She wipes her eyes on her shirt. “And even if I did...how the fuck do I get you out?”

“You have no idea how powerful you are,” Scylla repeats. It sounds like an omen. Like something out of a fairytale. “You’ll find a way, I know it.” 

“I miss you,” Raelle hasn’t let her go yet. “I hate you and I miss you and I love you and I don’t want you to die.” 

“I know,” Scylla says, like she’s always known, like she’ll be alright either way. “I love you so much.”

Raelle presses their hands together, recites the spell her mother taught her, and some of Scylla’s injuries heal. 

Then she wakes up. 

-:-

Raelle still has two black eyes the next morning.

“What happened to you?” Abigail asks. 

Raelle shrugs, tries to cover it with make-up and fails. “Walked into a door.” 

She can tell Abigail doesn’t believe her. Abigail raises an eyebrow, gets her an ice pack, and stays at her side all day. 

“If someone’s hurting you, you can tell me,” Abigail says. “I’ll kick their ass. I can probably pull some strings, get you a bodygaurd. No one gets to do that to my Shitbird.”

“I know, Bellweather,” Raelle says and she finds herself smiling. “No one did this to me, don’t worry.” 

That night, she brings up dream conversations whilst talking to Tally. Well, she intends to bring it up subtly, but Raelle is not known for this especially when it concerns someone she loves. And she does love Scylla, despite everything that’s happened. Tally is hanging fairy lights from back home and they twinkle almost like stars. 

“Oh we did that all the time at the compound!” Tally says excitedly, grinning at the memory. “We’d walk in each other’s dreams and stuff. Got weird when we hit puberty, though.” 

“Could you...is it possible to track someone’s location through a dream?” 

Tally shrugs. “I’ve never tried.” 

“I knew it!”

They both turn to see Abigail and Raelle realises she didn’t cast a silencing spell.

“You’re trying to find Scylla.” Abigail says and it’s not a question. “And you did...you took her injuries. She’s being tortured. That’s why you’re hurt.” 

Raelle only nods. “You’re not mad, are you?”

Abigail sighs. “I’m not Scylla’s biggest fan, but she doesn’t deserve to die.” 

“You’ll help?!” Tally says excitedly. 

It’s Abigail’s turn to nod. 

Raelle grins. 

They hear a knock at the door and they open it to find Anacostia. 

Or at least, they think it’s Anacostia, until she slams the door behind her and pulls out a lighter. 

Tally covers her mouth to stifle a scream. 

“She’s not dead!” Scylla assures her. “She helped me get out. And there’s a cottage on the beach with my name on it. And I want you all to come with me.” 

Raelle kisses her. “I want to go with you so bad, you have no idea. But I have a duty here. You get that, don’t you? You need to go and be free, Scylla.”

“They say that this war is your birthright,” Scylla scoffs. “Freedom is your birthright. Or at least, it should be.” 

“First I’m going to fight with my unit,” Raelle promises. “Then I’ll come home to you. Go save me a spot on that beach.”

Raelle can see tears in Scylla’s eyes but somehow still finds a smirk. “I’ll keep your side of the bed warm. Don’t die. If you do, I’ll bring you back and do it myself.” 

Scylla kisses her again and fades away. Raelle doesn’t cry. For the first times since her mother died, she feels hopeful. 

-:-

Graduation is an affair. 

Raelle doesn’t make it into war college. Sarah Alder has their team on a mission where they do so well, the war colleges are forced to reconsider their dismissal. They have a party, and celebrate their victories. 

She sees her father. She dreams with Scylla. She fights. She heals. 

She doesn’t die. Nor does the rest of her unit. 

Service is only mandatory for a decade. Time passes quicker for witches, and soon enough, Raelle is free. Scylla is free too, some younger Spree members taking her place once her usefulness ended. 

Scylla is waiting for her at the base, wearing the face of someone else, and kisses her fiercely. 

Raelle locks the cottage door behind her, and finds her place in their bed still warm. 

Scylla makes their house undetectable, Raelle kisses her, and they have a home. 

“I knew you’d find me,” Scylla giggles. 

“I always will,” Raelle promises. 

Scylla brushes a hand through her hair. “I won’t leave you again.” 

Raelle begins to sing a love song she learnt on her travels, and the two of them share a dance where there are no attacks, no murders, no enemy to escape. 

“You’re still my mission,” Scylla says. “But the mission has just...changed. I’ve booked us a little ceremony...if you want to, of course. It won’t be at a Church, though, obviously. I can’t imagine that. But...Raelle Collar, will you accept me as your lawfully wedded wife?” 

Raelle laughs. “I do, Scylla.” 

Scylla grins and winds their fingers together. “I do, too. You’re still my dream.” 

“And you are mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like i kinda made it too easy at the end but eh....i have a Plan to write an s2 fic with scylla/raelle/abigail ot3 so theres that! i hope you enjoyed <33333


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